Chapter Text
Grusha settled his suitcase near the door of his temporary room in the eastern wing of Naranja Academy, where most of the students' dorms were housed. The Elite Four and gym leaders had been given a hallway of empty dorms for the week to prepare for the trip. He walked over to the tiny kitchenette and threw out all his Pokémon in a wide arc. The five immediately scattered around the room, sniffing about their new surroundings, ever curious about life outside the Northern Province. As he was preoccupied with taking out his necessities, Froslass decided it was a good idea to wander around the other rooms.
Froslass' Point of View
Froslass phased through the wall, unfazed by the solid stone that separated the rooms. As a ghost type, such physical limitations are nothing to her. Her human had chosen a room at the end of the long box, a wise choice in her opinion. The noisy Bellibolt that came with the pink girl were nothing short of annoying as they shouted at a weird floating thing that all humans seemed to have. The few people that passed through her home all had a floating thingy, always talking away to the beeping rectangle. She was lucky that her human seldom got any beeps. She flew away from the pink girl's room. Their chattering was giving her a headache and she needed to look through the other dorms-that was a new word her human taught her-anyway. She skimmed past the tiny human's room and the salty human's room. Her human always said the tiny human wasn't especially small, just very young. If the tiny human was so small, she should still be in her cave, nice and snug under the ice. She shouldn't be running around, but to each their own, as her human was fond of saying. The salty human smelled of delectable Claunchers, but her human said she couldn't eat him! She pouted a bit at the thought. How could she resist such a delicacy? Claunchers are absolutely delicious-oh, but she must hold on out for her human! Froslass loved her human very much! She continued on her journey, only seeing empty rooms, until she reached the one opposite her human's room. She peeked inside and there she found a fluffy bird! He was napping on a grey pillow and he looked so snuggly! Froslass made herself visible and settled down besides the fluffy bird. As fluffy bird squawked in surprise, Froslass merely settled down closer to him. 'If all fluffy birds are this comfy, I may need to pester my human for one,' she thought as she fell into a light doze.
Staraptor's (Fluffy bird's) Point of View
Staraptor squawked in annoyance as he felt a cold chill envelope his left wing. He knew his human didn't particularly like his room to be too hot or too cold. He liked it to be normal, just like Staraptor did, although he didn't mind the cold, the icy temperatures reminding him of soaring through the cloudless sky. But the coldness that was pressed up against him was like a solid block of ice. As he looked towards the source of his discomfort, he saw a strange white creature with two blunt ice horns growing from the top of its head. Wait, his trainer didn't have a Pokémon like that...... Staraptor screeched in panic as he realised the unknown creature was not supposed to be here. 'Help me!' Staraptor shrieked. 'I'm too young to die!'
End Staraptor's (Fluffy bird's) Point of View
Larry was unpacking his suitcase when a loud screech from his partner interrupted him. He immediately rushed to help his partner, after all, Staraptor was his strongest Pokémon and if he was alarmed, the rest of his team didn't stand a chance. As he burst into the other room, he stopped short, stunned by the bizarre scene in front of him. Staraptor was flying around the room like he was possessed while a Froslass clung to his left side. As Staraptor swooped by him, he quickly grabbed the Froslass and dislodged it from his ruffled Pokémon. He kept a tight grip on the Froslass, not wanting it to float away. The Froslass gave a little twirl, clearly still basking in the afterglow of its exciting little adventure. 'Now, who could such a Pokémon belong to?' He mused. If he remembered correctly, Froslass was a ice and ghost type, so according to the gym leaders' penchant of only using Pokémon of a single type, it could either belong to the world famous rapper, Ryme or the former snowboarder, Grusha. Considering that Ryme hadn't arrived yet, the Froslass could only belong to Grusha.
Larry hadn't interacted closely with Grusha before, preferring to keep a distance between him and his colleagues. However, he always noticed how little he spoke at any gatherings, constantly fading into the background. He distantly recalled Geeta giving a rundown on Grusha's past, from the start of his education to the tragic accident that crippled his leg and ended his career, leading to him becoming Paldea's icy gym leader. He couldn't blame him for wanting to stay out of public sight after the incident. Larry would've sealed himself in his room and never come out again if he were in Grusha's place. A small squeal from Froslass brought him back as the she tugged on Staraptor's wing, wanting to go flying again. Larry put on his shoes and scooped her up, carrying her into the hallway. He knocked on the door labelled with Grusha's name and knock firmly on it. Almost immediately, the door cracked open and a blue haired man appeared in the doorway. Larry caught himself in the middle of raising an eyebrow at Grusha's androgynous appearance, from the long blue hair to the yellow coat and tight leggings he wore. If Larry had bumped into him on the street, he would honestly have trouble telling his gender. 'You're Larry, of the Medali Gym, right? Why are you here?' Grusha asked curiously. After all, it was well known that Larry was extremely antisocial, keeping to himself even during League events. Larry just held up an obviously happy Froslass and Grusha facepalmed. He had been looking all over the place for Froslass and to find out she was with Larry? He was not happy. Grusha sighed and opened to door wider. 'Come on, you returned Froslass to me, might as well treat you to a little food.' Larry was hesitant to accept an invitation from a near stranger, but just then his stomach grumbled as if to remind him how he skipped breakfast in favour of wrangling a stray Persian who was sleeping on top of some poor trainer's Quaxley. The Persian was not pleased to be roused from its sleep and had to battled until it ran away across the plains of the West Province's Area Three. 'Thank you,' Larry accepted Grusha's invitation with a nod and walked into the cozy little dorm that would mark the start of a wonderful journey.